PAJALAT INDIANS

PAJALAT INDIANS. The Pajalat (Cajalate, Pajalac, Pajalache, Pajalatam, Pallalat, Paxolot, and numerous other variants) Indians are known only from the eighteenth century. Their aboriginal range seems to have been the area immediately south of San Antonio, between the Frio and the San Antonio rivers. Many Pajalats moved to San Antonio and entered Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña and San Francisco de la Espada missions when they were established there in 1731. A Pajalat chief was the first governor of the Indian settlement associated with Concepción Mission. These Indians seem to have left at least a temporary mark on local geography at San Antonio. The acequía or main irrigation canal at Concepción was known as the Pajalache or Concepción ditch, and as late as 1820 an eminence in the vicinity of San Antonio was known as Los Pajalaches Hill. The Pajalats are not to be confused with the Pachalaques, who were also at Concepción. The separateness of Pajalat and Pachalaque Indians is supported by mission records, which list individuals of both groups on the same page and include one reference to the marriage of a Pajalat to a Pachalaque. A few Pajalat Indians from San Antonio seem to have found their way to Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission after it was moved to the site of present Refugio in 1791. The record clearly shows that the Pajalats spoke a Coahuiltecan dialect.

Image Use Disclaimer

All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law.